My idea of a stress reliever might surprise you. Yes, I'm all about lounging by the pool with a good book, or sipping a fresh mimosa while digging my toes into the sand. But what really relaxes me and sloooows down my brain is a brain teaser. I absolutely love a good crossword puzzle or a sudoko better than anyone I know. And what I really love more than anything is either a jigsaw puzzle or a nice relaxing game of solitaire - especially spider solitaire or free cell!
In fact, I'll tell you this. I was once so addicted I had to remove solitaire from my computer. It's true! I would have never gotten an entire book written if I had continued to feed my addiction. Fortunately those games don't come standard on Macs, and every Mac owner knows - once you go Mac you never go back! I've heard there are free solitaire websites on the computer, but for the moment I'm just saying no!
When I was little I loved those hand-held number puzzles that you had to move around with your thumbs. You know the home-made kind that had hand-written fortunes under each triangle? And I really loved the plastic ones with numbered squares that you had to shuffle until all the numbers were in order from from 1-12. I never did master the Rubik's cube but I could have died trying.
I absolutely adore needle point and knitting. And I long for each stitch to be neat and perfect. The irony in that is nothing else in my life is neat and perfect. Sewing must represent a small little something I can have complete control over.
HOWEVER, I've had to make a conscious effort to put away my needles, give away the jigsaw puzzles and stop my subscription to the newspaper. (This might be an excellent time to give a shout out to The Tennessean - your crossword puzzles and sudokos are top shelf, baby, top shelf!!)
So where does all this leave me if my priority has become novel writing and I'm turning my back on my addiction(s)? TO THE INTERNET, OF COURSE. I can have my computer in my lap, my WIP on the screen and click on dictionary.com for all my spelling and synonym needs. And while I'm at it I can sneak peeks at my both of my email accounts, and the NG website, and Amazon, and Ebay, and CNN and, and, and . . . I'm back to where I started - with a brand new addiction. YIKES. What now???? Find another way to relieve my stress? Suggestions anyone?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Lisa, I LOVE crossword puzzles, too. My favorite relaxing Sunday activity is doing the NY Times crossword, but I hardly ever have the time to do it anymore.
I remember back in university I could spend hours playing free-cell on my computer all in a concerted effort NOT to write a paper.
I've heard that some people get Alphasmarts--word processor thingys that don't have internet capabilities. Me? I think I would die without my internet!
Post a Comment